Isaiah 5:1-6

A Love Song Gone Sour

5:1 I ¹  will sing to my love –

a song to my lover about his vineyard. ² 

My love had a vineyard

on a fertile hill. ³ 

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ⁴  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ⁵ 

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ⁶ 

people ⁷  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard

beyond what I have already done?

When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,

why did it produce sour ones instead?

5:5 Now I will inform you

what I am about to do to my vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ⁸ 

I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ⁹ 

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹⁰ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

Isaiah 5:24-25

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ¹¹  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ¹² 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ¹³  of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁴ 

5:25 So the Lord is furious ¹⁵  with his people;

he lifts ¹⁶  his hand and strikes them.

The mountains shake,

and corpses lie like manure ¹⁷  in the middle of the streets.

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ¹⁸ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn It is uncertain who is speaking here. Possibly the prophet, taking the role of best man, composes a love song for his friend on the occasion of his wedding. If so, יָדִיד (yadid) should be translated “my friend.” The present translation assumes that Israel is singing to the Lord. The word דוֹד (dod, “lover”) used in the second line is frequently used by the woman in the Song of Solomon to describe her lover.

[5:1]  ² sn Israel, viewing herself as the Lord’s lover, refers to herself as his vineyard. The metaphor has sexual connotations, for it pictures her capacity to satisfy his appetite and to produce children. See Song 8:12.

[5:1]  ³ tn Heb “on a horn, a son of oil.” Apparently קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”) here refers to the horn-shaped peak of a hill (BDB 902 s.v.) or to a mountain spur, i.e., a ridge that extends laterally from a mountain (HALOT 1145 s.v. קֶרֶן; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:180). The expression “son of oil” pictures this hill as one capable of producing olive trees. Isaiah’s choice of קֶרֶן, a rare word for hill, may have been driven by paronomastic concerns, i.e., because קֶרֶן sounds like כֶּרֶם (kerem, “vineyard”).

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:3]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[5:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).

[5:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[5:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

[5:24]  ¹² sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

[5:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “the word.”

[5:24]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[5:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord rages.”

[5:25]  ¹⁶ tn Or “extends”; KJV, ASV “he hath stretched forth.”

[5:25]  ¹⁷ tn Or “garbage” (NCV, CEV, NLT); NAB, NASB, NIV “refuse.”

[5:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”